Predicting Suicidal Tendencies Among High Risk Youth With the General Theory of Crime

ABSTRACT

This study examines whether suicidal tendencies among a group of juveniles who have come to the attention of Child Protective Services can be predicted by self-control theory. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, we find that self-control predicts suicidal tendencies. In addition, the effect of self-control remains significant even when controlling for the juveniles’ depression and previously reported suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This study lends further support to the claim that self-control serves as a general explanation for a wide range of problematic outcomes. In addition, these findings provide caseworkers with another tool for assessing the risk of suicide among high risk youth.

Notes

¹ Respondents in wave 5 were older adolescents or young adults. The data collected in wave 5 focused on their life circumstances and did not include the same suicide items.

² In order to establish whether self-reports and current caregiver reports of self-control were similar in the NSCAW-I data, we did conduct several analyses. The factor analyses revealed very similar patterns, with only slight variations in the strength of the factor loadings and one item, “Cruel to Animals,” that did not load on the self-control factor in the self-reports from the juveniles. Pearson correlation analyses also indicated that the caregiver reported self-control and the child’s self-reported levels were highly correlated (.390, p < .001). Therefore, we are confident that the caregiver report provides not only an adequate measure of self-control but is superior as it allows us to measure this at younger ages.

³ Analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between our measures of suicide as reported by the caregivers and this single item from the CDI. The results indicated that these measures were highly correlated (p < .001), and therefore that the children’s own reports of their suicidal ideation was consistent with caregiver reports of these tendencies.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stacey Nofziger

STACEY NOFZIGER is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Akron. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Arizona in 1999. Her primary research interests are juvenile violence and victimization with emphasis in self-control theory. Her work has appeared in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Youth & Society, Violence and Victims, and Deviant Behavior.

Valerie J. Callanan

VALERIE J. CALLANAN is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Akron. Her research focuses on suicide, crime-related media, and fear of crime. Her research has been published in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Sociological Perspectives, Feminist Criminology, and Journal of Criminal Justice. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside in 2001.